As one of the biggest energy sources for power generation, coal has been widely used in power generation. In a coal-fired power generation system, energy efficiency is increasingly focused on due to the fact that the power plant economics and coal cost/emission are closely related to energy efficiency.
However, many coal-fired power generation systems lack effective energy efficiency program. In an existing coal-fired power plant, the power generation system usually includes a variety of equipment types with various operation conditions. Thus, a traditional mechanism energy efficiency module is often specific to a certain equipment type, which means they are not adaptive and comprehensive. Besides, in some of the power generation systems, equipment parameters provided by equipment manufacturers are inadequate or outdated for developing a mechanism module. In addition, the mechanism energy efficiency module is usually established for rated operation conditions, and the efficiency will be significantly affected if the power generation is not operated under rated operation conditions, or in other words, the accuracy will be compromised when the power generation system is operated at lower loading levels.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a solution for improving energy efficiency in a power generation system, especially in a coal-fired power generation system.